King of Beasts

A yellow-furred, black-striped big cat…

A stray cat?

“Clarify that,” Lu Ran commanded.

The intelligence of a crow equals that of a five-year-old child.

To understand its report, he needed to ask several times.

Lu Ran’s telepathy worked smoother with higher animal intelligence.

If the other party was dim-witted, he could only discern the inner voice through their instinctual behavior.

For example, communicating with insects was rather difficult.

However, Lu Ran felt that telepathy was still far more useful than a mental connection.

Every beastmaster could actually communicate simply with their pet beast via the contract’s inherent mental connection, which allowed for mental exchanges but was limited to the contracted partner.

In contrast, Lu Ran’s telepathy was not restricted to contracted creatures, which made it more convenient.

Moreover, whether mental exchange or telepathy, both were challenging to use initially and required gradual practice.

Learning it two years in advance allowed Lu Ran to avoid many detours in beast communication.

Big… bigger… a bigger cat than itself. The crow looked at General Ha and described again.

“Woof?” General Ha was startled.

Beside him, Lu Ran’s expression darkened. You call that a cat? Bigger than General Ha, that’s got to be a tiger!

Though indeed, tigers belonged to the cat family.

“Nonsense, how could there be a tiger here?” Lu Ran spoke up, but the next moment, General Ha seemed to ponder and turned in a certain direction.

Its nose quivered, catching the scent of a fierce beast.

A dog’s sense of smell was inherently sharp, and with the awakening of wind-type abilities, it became even easier to capture certain scents from the air.

“Roar!” General Ha alerted Lu Ran.

“No way, a real tiger?” It wasn’t just the crow’s report; now even General Ha sensed the approach of a fierce beast, leaving Lu Ran somewhat astonished.

This place was no dangerous secret realm! Where did the fierce beast come from?

Green Sea City had no wild tigers, and the only place Lu Ran could recall with tigers was… the wildlife park.

It couldn’t be that a tiger had escaped from the wildlife park, could it?

“Thanks for your help, I’ll bring you some snacks next time!” Lu Ran said, and the satisfied black crow flew off.

The king is wise!

Gluttons! In Lu Ran’s view, every animal was a glutton, easily subdued with a little food.

At this point, Lu Ran certainly lost any desire to have General Ha continue sword training. His brow furrowed, he pondered deeply.

If it truly was an escaped wild tiger, he had to contact the fire department immediately; he couldn’t let it hurt anyone.

The nearby parks and residential areas were often bustling with elderly people and children.

“General Ha, let’s go,” Lu Ran said.

He wasn’t worried about his own safety.

Not to mention General Ha’s combat ability had made a qualitative leap; it was just an ordinary tiger, after all. Even if he had to step back, if faced with danger in reality, he had his ultimate card up his sleeve.

Not the Divine Deer pendant.

But Infinite City teleport!

It only took 10 seconds.

He could teleport to Infinite City from Blue Star immediately.

Even if there was a nuclear bomb heading his way, as long as there was a warning, Lu Ran would not be scared.

Sometimes Lu Ran even fantasized that if someone coveted his treasures in reality, he could just stay in Infinite City until he reached level 100 before coming back!

However, unfortunately, the bad guys wouldn’t write “bad guy” on their faces, and one must always be vigilant.

“Roar.” At this moment, General Ha nodded and followed Lu Ran, heading in the direction of the scent General Ha had detected.

About a kilometer in, Lu Ran held his breath and, along with General Ha, hid behind a tree, looking out at the giant beast standing in the mountains…

Hiss…

Lu Ran’s eyes widened, because there before him was a Manchurian Tiger with a shoulder height of at least 1.5 meters and a body length of over 3 meters!

So big!

Compared to this massive creature, even General Ha, now the size of a large dog, seemed very petite.

“Roar…” The Manchurian Tiger clearly noticed the approach of Lu Ran and his companion, looking in the direction of the tree and letting out a deep roar.

“This isn’t an ordinary tiger, it’s a supernatural tiger beast that has evolved,” Lu Ran observed, quickly realizing why the tiger was so large. It was clearly like General Ha at the beginning, strengthened by a contract and having completed its initial evolution!

The Manchurian Tiger of this size was much more terrifying than the demon cat. What was going on? Where was its beastmaster? It couldn’t possibly be wild.

“Err-woo—” At the same time, what made Lu Ran quite helpless was that, even when faced with such a fierce beast, General Ha was not scared at all but instead was filled with a fighting spirit.

“Stop messing around, we’re not clear on the situation yet. This guy probably has a beastmaster, right? If we hurt it, we might have to pay for damages,” Lu Ran was confused.

“Besides, this is a first-class protected animal. If we take it down, I, Boss Lu, am going to be in deep trouble,” he then joked with General Ha.

“Woof!” General Ha glared.

The beast had a beastmaster?

Don’t joke.

It smelled the scent of human blood from the other party.

If there was one, it must be inside its stomach by now.

Lu Ran: ?

“What.” Lu Ran was bewildered.

He seemed to have thought of something and quickly came to his senses, pulling out his phone and trying to dial a number.

If it was just an ordinary fierce beast that had escaped, he was intending to call the fire department, but now the situation was clearly different.

“Come on, pick up.” General Ha was confronting the Manchurian Tiger while Lu Ran leaned against a tree making the call.

Fortunately, the call connected quickly.

A familiar voice came through.

“Hello, who’s this?”

“Waves Xiaobailong?” Lu Ran asked.

“It’s me,” the other side responded with surprise: “This voice… Passerby A?!”

“Haha, you contacted me so soon, I thought you’d need to sleep first, have a good rest for the night. Do you want to know where to register your identity information?” Xiaobailong asked.

“…No rush on that, listen to me first, I was walking my dog in the hills behind our community, and we encountered a Manchurian Tiger. It seems like the tiger has undergone evolution, and I haven’t seen its beastmaster.”

“The most important thing is, it seems to have eaten someone. My dog smelled the scent of human blood on it.”

After Lu Ran finished, there was a moment of silence on the other end.

Then, after a moment, “Ah?” came the response.

“Holy shit.” Moments later, Waves Xiaobailong couldn’t help but swear.

“Now, what’s the situation? Are you in danger? Where are you? It should be ‘contract backlash’. This kind of situation is common abroad. Some people try to use a black card to contract fierce beasts, but they can’t control them, leading to their own demise.”

“Lu Ran, listen to me. First, find a safe place and give me the address. I’ll immediately find someone to handle this.”

“Okay…” Lu Ran nodded, not expecting to come into contact with an official beastmaster so quickly.

He had thought he would only encounter them in reality when it was time to register his identity.

“I’m at…” Lu Ran was about to tell Xiaobailong his location when, the next moment, a tiger’s roar vibrated through the forest. The giant tiger stopped confronting General Ha and, as if enraged, roared and pounced!

The shocking roar was something only those who have truly heard it could understand. Even through the phone, Xiaobailong could hear the terrifying roar.

On the other end, Xiaobailong’s face turned pale. Once contracted, a tiger species is at least an upper supernatural species.

Even without an awakened attribute, even at level 1, they could easily and simply overpower lower-level species and creatures… This was bad!

“Passerby A!” he shouted anxiously, wanting to ask Lu Ran what was happening.

However, Lu Ran did not continue the conversation for the moment.

As the giant tiger attacked, General Ha’s eyes shone as if the tiger’s aggressive move was exactly what it wanted. A sky-blue energy enveloped its body.

Whoosh!

The dust where it tread stirred up instantly.

With the boost from the power of wind, its sprint turned into a blur, its speed far surpassing that of the giant tiger.

Speed is power.

In the eyes of Lu Ran and General Ha, this giant tiger was all brawn and no brains.

The opponent was likely only level 1, not even capable of the simplest energy overlay.

Facing General Ha, who had awakened its attribute, the tiger was indeed just a big cat with a larger body.

Faced with General Ha, swift as a gale, the Manchurian Chinchilla

1

 was also somewhat taken aback. However, by the time it reacted, its body had already collided directly with General Ha’s.

“Uh-oh—” However, even though the Manchurian Tiger was only level 1, General Ha and Lu Ran finally understood what it meant to be the king of beasts among the high-level species.

Even with many disadvantages, the impact alone allowed General Ha to feel the tremendous force bursting from the opponent, causing it to wince in pain.

It was almost overwhelming compared to General Ha at level 1.

“Roar!!!” Because General Ha’s speed was too fast, it resulted in the Manchurian Tiger being unable to properly deploy its hunting skills, and it was sent flying several meters by General Ha’s collision. The impact from General Ha could be compared to a speeding car hitting the Manchurian Tiger.

This collision made the Manchurian Tiger realize that General Ha was not to be trifled with, and it turned to leave. However, General Ha, having encountered such a formidable opponent, had no intention of letting it go.

“Aowu!!!” Energized, General Ha picked up a long branch beside it, intending to use it as a sword to perform “sword techniques.”

Swish, swish, swish.

The power of wind wrapped around the branch, making it look like a gleaming wind blade.

Holding the wind blade in its mouth, General Ha pursued closely. The king of beasts just like this!

Dog Head Sword Flash!

Seeing this scene, the Manchurian Tiger was even more dumbfounded, running and looking back at the same time, almost tripping over itself in the process, lacking any semblance of the king of beasts’ demeanor.

“Hey, hey, hey, Passerby A!!!” At this moment, Xiaobailong was still shouting.

“Uh, I’m fine,” Lu Ran, hiding behind a tree and watching this unfold, scratched his head and said, “The tiger just attacked, and I helped you deal with it on the fly. Thankfully, my Erha has awakened its attribute and leveled up, otherwise it would have been really dangerous.”

“It’s a pity, such a big tiger would have been great if it hadn’t hurt anyone,” Lu Ran lamented.

“I suppose this counts as emergency avoidance.”

“Uh… you, you subdued it?” Xiaobailong was astonished.

But then, thinking of Lu Ran’s decent performance in the trial secret realm, and considering that General Ha had awakened its attribute, it did have a significant advantage over a tiger that had just touched the supernatural, he began to understand.

Phew… Xiaobailong breathed a sigh of relief. It’s good that no one was hurt.

Although he didn’t understand how Lu Ran and his group had such courage, it was rare indeed. Are these really just high school students? What on earth does this guy’s family do?

“Stay safe, and send me your location. I’ll contact the relevant departments in your area to retrieve that tiger.”

“Thanks to you, otherwise the consequences of a Manchurian Tiger entering the city would have been unthinkable. I’ll arrange for a bonus for you!”

“That’s okay.”

“Forget the bonus, I don’t need the money. Instead, find a way to get me into Shanghai University without having to take the college entrance exam… I don’t want to take it…” Lu Ran said.

In fact, Lu Ran wasn’t really interested in a diploma either, but having studied for so many years, he felt it would be a waste not to get one. Never mind, he decided to be a Beast Taming master with a diploma.

Xiaobailong: ???

While talking, Lu Ran walked towards General Ha. By this time, the Manchurian Chinchilla already had several scratch marks on its body, oozing blood.

Cornered at the base of the mountain by General Ha, who was holding a branch, the Manchurian Tiger shook with fear, its face filled with terror like a frightened bird, and it kept growling in an attempt to scare off the enemy.

Lu Ran looked at the branch in General Ha’s mouth with surprise… This guy… was progressing so fast. Just a moment ago, the force of the wind had shattered the wooden sword, and now it was already skillfully wrapping energy around the branch.

A genius, perhaps.

“You look a bit unfamiliar; you must have arrived in the last few months,” Lu Ran said, turning to the Manchurian Tiger. He had seen the ones in the wildlife park a few times, but he didn’t recognize this one, so he guessed it was new.

It was a pity; it had already harmed someone, and he wondered what would happen to it next.

Before long, among the teams that had entered the back mountain of Maple Park to search for the escaped Manchurian Tiger, a fourth-generation beastmaster paused and picked up his phone.

“Officer Luo Shang, this is the First Bureau. The ‘Manchurian Tiger escape and attack incident’ previously reported by Green Sea City has been resolved by a local Beast Taming master. He has the tiger under control, and I will send you the location.”

“What?” Luo Shang, fully armed with weapons and accompanied by a supernatural police dog, showed a look of surprise and said, “Isn’t there only one Beast Taming master in Green Sea City, which is me?”

“It’s a newcomer Beast Taming master.”

“A newcomer, how could they possibly… Yes! I’ll bring my team over right now.” Luo Shang took a deep breath, incredulous. He himself had become a beastmaster only a week ago, with a D-level rating, which was quite high. Yet even so, his professionally trained police dog trembled at just the scent of the escaped Manchurian Tiger. What kind of newcomer could subdue a supernatural tiger beast without the aid of firearms?

Could it be that the other party has a contract with an even more ferocious wild beast?

Moments later…

Luo Shang arrived with a group at the location sent by Lu Ran, and then… they witnessed a scene that left them speechless.

A gigantic Manchurian Tiger, so large it was absurd, was curled up at the foot of the mountain like a wronged big cat, being intimidated by an Erha holding a branch… Next to it, a youth with the appearance of a student was sitting on a rock, playing with his phone.

Footnote:

1. Manchurian Chinchilla(东北金渐层):

    This is a playful name for the Manchurian tiger, as it has golden fur similar to that of a golden chinchilla, and both are members of the cat family, hence it is referred to as the Manchurian Chinchilla. In China, the adorable image of a tiger is often referred to as a “big cat”.